


Wings of Blood

by Melonya



Category: Linked Universe - Fandom, The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Genre: Blood, Dissociation, Hope that covers it for now, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Linked Universe, Mild Gore, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Panic Attacks, Redead Wind, Temporary Character Death, Wind has a rough time, technically
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-06-03
Updated: 2020-06-02
Packaged: 2021-03-04 03:53:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,704
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24517237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Melonya/pseuds/Melonya
Summary: Being compared to the Hero of Time isn't all that bad, but Wind never wanted to be him. Not like this at least.
Relationships: Time & Wind (Linked Universe), Warriors & Wind (Linked Universe)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 76





	Wings of Blood

**Author's Note:**

> The Implied/Referenced Self Harm can be subject to interpretation. But one may make the argument that Wind is purposefully hurting himself by doing this. Just wanted everyone to be aware and to stay safe.

It had been a mistake, a simple, utterly heart wrenching mistake. A portal had opened beneath their feet, had cut them away from the rest of their party and they had fallen. Fallen through the air at breakneck speeds, seeing rocks and mountains rush up on either side. Time had grabbed Wind and kept him tight to his chest. Protecting him from the fall. A simple mistake. An adult protecting a child. 

It could have been a heroic mistake, too. 

But there is very little heroism in the sound of a body thudding against the floor. 

Bones cracked and pushed through flesh. Blood splattered the ground in a mockery of angel wings on each side of the hero’s body. Eyes opened and glazed. Wind had been safe, and that was the last thing Time had thought before his brain had been crushed against stone. 

Wind, head pressed against the dead man's chest, vaguely remembered reaching for the leaf in his pack. That motion had been stopped when Time had grabbed him. Truly, a mistake, as Wind would have been safe no matter what Time had done. The reminder did nothing but make the bile in his throat burn.

Wiggling and prying his body from the death grip of the dead man, Wind felt his eyes start to well with tears. Time was dead  _ because of him. _ Wind had tried to get them to all accept that he was a hero just like them, and Time had seemed to respect that. So why? Why did he do that? Why had he sacrificed himself for the child just masquerading as a hero?

Swallowing back the lump in his throat, Wind stood over Time's body and accessed the damage. 

His eyes were open, both of them. Pink, with burst blood vessels reaching and twisting like vines. His arms had fallen to either side of his body now that they had nothing to hold. The Biggoron Sword had been shattered, cracked and thrusting pieces into Times back and sides. Almost like silver feathers speckled with sapphire jewels. His armor was dented and broken, yawning open to show the bones poking through his chest cavity. 

There was no way any of Wind's items would fix him. No way for him to revive Time. Wind wanted to wail, wanted to hug Time, wanted to wake him up and pretend this never happened. But Wind was Time's friend. He couldn't pretend everything was okay. He needed to think. He just needed to think.

Where were they? Looking around, it was obvious, if only because they had been here before. They were in Wild's Hyrule, in the Tabantha region right next to a fairy fountain. It would only take a few hours to get to the fountain. Maybe...?

Eyeing Time's body, looking at the legs, Wind pulled out the Wind Waker. He couldn’t carry Time's body, but Time's legs could.

With a deft flick - Left, Center, Right, Center - the command bloomed into being. His consciousness was sucked from his body, swirling and distorting, and he stared up at the sky. His eyes opened, only one working.

Wind felt nothing, nothing but a gaping hole where his heart should be. A void. Nothing was there. 

Jerking upright, arms swinging by his side, bones cracked further to let him know his spine was demolished as well. Wind stood fully upright.

The body he was inhabiting stood taller then he ever had been, and looking to his right, he could see his original body lolling about. The Wind Waker moved in circles. He looked like an idiot. Wind felt nothing. Stiffly taking a step, Wind ignored the guts sloshing against the only part of the armor still together, holding everything inside even when the skin was torn wide. 

A step, two steps, and Wind was marching. The body, a body that would have never moved again if not for the strings of magic keeping Wind in control, jerked with each movement. Wind was a puppeteer of life; a puppeteer on a mission.

It wasn't hard to do what he was doing -- controlling a person, that is. He had done it to Medli before, even Makar. But a dead body, a dead body of  _ his friend that had tried to save him when he would have been fine- _ Well, Wind was held together by the knowledge of what he could do to save Time and by the skin that had barely survived the fall. 

Leaving his own body behind was fine, it would be fine. He just needed to focus on Time. Time who had a wife, Time who hadn't had children yet,  _ Time who had so much to live for. _ Time who thought Wind was worth more than anything else, Time who had saved him. Wind couldn't cry in this body, or even breathe; the blood had already flooded his airway, but he wanted to scream. Scream an ear shattering screech. He wanted to let everyone hear his wails, his mourning of could haves and should of beens, but he couldn't.

There was no weapon on hand that Wind could use to protect the already cooling body, the body he was trapped in until he healed it. 

Climbing over rocks, the hand held to balance himself, twisted in the wrong direction. He felt nothing. Foot over foot, ground hard packed and red, congealed blood left a trail behind him. Eyelids were plastered open, dry and sticky. corpses didn't need to blink. 

Wind felt empty, numb, and it took everything for him to keep going. Even when the joints started sticking, even when the fingers turned blue, even when the ribs started piercing back into the skin, Wind kept marching.

The sun started to dip, and the streaks of warmth that had lasted through the day faded. Wind didn't feel that change but he saw it. Saw it in the way the stone faded from orange to a velvet blue. Saw it in the way blonde hair turned from halo gold to pale white. Saw it in the way the red blood turned black. 

Wind didn't know how long a body could be dead before the Great Fairy would say she couldn't do anything, but he couldn't risk it being only a few hours. 

Clutching the ribs and guts back, Wind started to pick up speed. Shambling down a road with no human on it. Shambling amongst the dead who stared with wide, judgmental eyes. Wind would make it. He would save Time.

Though why he wanted that he wasn't quite sure anymore. His feelings of the situation sat in the back of his mind, slumbering away from the pain. All that he had was a numb idea that he needed to do this. But why? It would be so much easier to just lay down and accept defeat. Accept the cold darkness of oblivion. Wind could rest. But he made it this far, might as well see if he can make it.

With jerking movements, and shambling steps, Wind saw the flower in the distance. Clay surrounded it and a friendly glow penetrated the haze of his feelings. Beckoning him forth. It took Wind no time for the petals to bend under his weight.

The next moments were a blur: a beautiful woman, shocked eyes, being plucked from the ground, and a dazzling flash of lights. Wind felt his soul getting pulled, twisted, scratched. He felt another soul fill the space he inhabited and push his being to the edge of the vessel, forcing him back and out, but not before he felt a tear that took a piece of himself. A piece he would never get back. As he was stuffed back into a body too small for him. 

A body that felt just as heavy and numb as the one he had been in before. Wind was back at the start, but he had saved Time.

The bloody wings on the ground mocked him. The shattered sword at his feet showed him the mistake of saving him once again. Tears welled in his eyes but did not fall. Wind felt nothing. Why did he feel nothing? 

Wind should go make sure Time was alright after all that, he had been dead and that could leave marks. But, would he remember? It didn't matter. Wind had saved him. 

"Wind! Where are you?! Please answer....."

Grabbing the necklace at his throat, Wind tried desperately to answer Wild. His throat closing up, tongue drier than a desert. Come on Wind. Just answer him! You know where you are! You can do this! You're not a child. 

And yet, no words made it past his lips, just a desperate whine. Air whistled through his throat and exited with a hiss.

"Wind? Are you there? Are you okay? Is Time with you?"

Come on,  _ come on. _ Why couldn't he answer?! Wild could get him and Time with the others, they would all be safe if he could. Just. Speak. Forcing the words from the lump in his throat, Wind spoke from gritted teeth.

"Tabantha, great fairy. Time, yes." It took everything for Wind to just say that, how pathetic. Wind wanted to curl up on the bloody ground and not get up.

"Okay, stay where you are. We'll be there in a second." Yippee, Time would be safe at least. He should probably walk towards the great fairy himself.

-

It took less than an hour for Wind to start hearing yells of his name, high and reedy on the wind. He wished they would shut up. He felt annoyance bubble low in his stomach. He didn't deserve that name.

Thrown out of his thoughts by a hand on his shoulder, Wind looked up into the face of a dead man. Or someone who’d been a dead man. Time looked thunderous. Angry at something Wind could care less about -- he was alive, that's all that mattered. A wide smile inches across his face. The Sailor opened his mouth to ask if he felt better, but was immediately shut down by Time’s loud, angry voice.

"What was that?! I woke up at the great fairy's fountain with you nowhere in sight! The others told me you told them to meet you there! You can't just walk off like that, we were worried! What if-" Wind didn't listen to the rest. Time didn't remember. 

It was probably for the best that Wind didn't say anything then. If Time could live with one less traumatic experience then Wind would be doing the world a favor. So he shut his mouth. His smile faded alongside his happiness. Numbness spread like frost from his heart and curled to his fingers, holding him captive within his own mind. This was fine, he could deal with this.

The others must have joined them at some point, because it had turned quiet. Looking up from the ground, Wind saw all the staring eyes on him. He felt his throat close up again, but soon the stares turned into annoyed glares. Twilight repeated what he must have asked while Wind was thinking. 

"What happened? Time says he remembers falling through a portal, hitting his head, and then waking up at the fountain without you in sight. Wind, just tell us, we promise we won't be mad if you decided to go explore or something."

Wind went over it in his head, the exploring wouldn't explain the blood, but if Time hit his head...

"Time hit his head. Was next to the fountain. Fairy fixed him. Went to see if you were near." His throat still felt closed and sticky, but the basic words spilled easily enough. 

"But you ignored our calls! We called you for hours, why didn't you answer?" Ah, his body had the necklace. He couldn't answer with a dead body. 

"Stone fell. Had to find it." 

"I thought you were looking for us? Come on Wind, if you're going to lie, at least lie well."

The phantom blood creeped in his throat, clogging his words from escaping. Wind couldn't answer any further. Shaking his head, Wind just looked down. Ignoring the grumbles of the men surrounding him. 

"Fine, if you don't answer then you'll be last watch every night for the next week, got it?" Got off light Wind thought, he nodded.

-

They had decided to camp there for the night. It had already been late at this point, and since they needed only one watch for the short nap they were sure to have that evening, Wind was placed in charge. As was his punishment for the next week. So he stared out into the shadows, superficially pretending he didn't mean to sit near Time. 

Snores and huffs of breath filled the small group of heroes, Wind listening closely. As they breathed, as they huffed, as their life continued on.

His mind raced and his heart picked up speed. Arms started shaking and legs gave out; as he braced his hands on the ground and kept himself steady as his breaths joined his companions in the quiet night. Faster than any of them should be. Sucking in shallow breaths and fast paced heart beats screaming in his ears, Wind wanted to yell. Wanted to scream to the heavens. But couldn't, as finally, tears started streaking down his face. 

He had died, he had been in a dead body,  _ he was dead. _ A ReDead in a group of heroes, would they kill him if they knew he wasn't supposed to be alive?  _ He wasn't supposed to be alive. _ It was a mistake to save him. He was a mistake. He was a mistake.  _ He was a monster. _

A voice woke his brain up a little, he could hear the others shuffling and small whispers sounded like grating stones in his ears. Whimpering, Wind curled even further into himself. They would all see that Wind was wrong, wrong, wrong, WRONG.

"Wind, can you hear me? Please, give me a sign you can hear me, anything will do."

Tapping the ground with his fist, Wind tried to ignore the burning in his throat and eyes. His breaths still come fast and sharp. Wind was  _ wrong. _ He shouldn't be alive, why were they trying to help?

"Can I touch you? I need your permission before I do."

Another tap on the ground. A hand on his shoulder and his chin, forcing him to look up into the blurry face of Warriors. His blue scarf was haphazardly wrapped across his shoulders. 

"Good, good. You can see me now, and I can see you. Can you try to breathe with me, little sailor?" 

Warriors exaggerated his breaths in demonstration, breathing in, holding it, then breathing out. Wind wanted to shake his head no. Can't Warriors see that Wind wasn't right? That he shouldn't be breathing at all? But Warriors looked so hopeful, like he cared about him. So Wind nodded and took a shaky inhale, holding it, and breathing out. It felt like forever before his shoulders drooped and he could breath without copying his brother. 

Wind looked back down. He didn't want to see the disappointed faces of his brothers. What would they think about the monster in human flesh that had a panic attack? What a nuisance. 

"Hey now! No bad thoughts!" A soft object started wrapping around his arms, holding him in a soft embrace. Holding him so he wouldn't fall apart. 

It took a second for Wind to realize that not only was he scarfed, but War had started to hug him. Keeping him safe. Not even a second later and Wild had joined in as well. Then Four, Twilight, Legend, Hyrule, and finally Time. All hugging him and shielding him from the darkness of his own mind.

Warm, Wind felt warm. He wasn't cold anymore, he wasn't numb, he felt  _ safe. _ His eyes drooped down, he had used up all his energy earlier. 

As he started to drift into sleep, he heard a whisper that broke the new dawn's quiet morning rise.

"You'll tell us what really happened, won't you?"

His answer was just as quiet, a silent promise filling the words. 

"Yes, I will. Don’t worry Time."

And then he fell into gentle slumber.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks to the lovely Seeking7, who beta'd this entire chapter! I hope everyone enjoyed it! Chapter 2 may or may not happen sometime this or next month! :)


End file.
